Lost

To Bed Now, To Bed

To bed now, it's

Bedtime

This I remember every night

When the clock strikes eleven

The lights are dimmed

The house quiets, and

We bid each other 'Good night'

On the pillow I lie my head down

The quilts I pull quite high

So high that it covers my eyes

From the darkness

The darkness I cannot hide

I twist and turn; I

Groan and I sigh

I yawn and stretch

And will myself to rest

To close my eyes

And doze gently, lightly

Till the sun-rise

But no; this cannot be

My head jerks and

My eyes flutter

I throw off the covers

No, I cannot sleep

Tonight, or

Any night

I cannot shake that image

Of a love I'd known and lost

Crawling through my brain

Like a parasite

So vividly I remember it

It haunts me, every night

So I tell myself, as always

Like Lady Macbeth once said:

'To bed now, to bed'

I allow my brain to conjure

An illusion of sleep

And I bid myself

Good night